Simi Vineyards have been around for 125 years, and their philosophy throughout their history has always been to focus on quality. The Simi Winery was founded in 1876 by the Simi brothers from Tuscany, Italy. The rolling hills of Sonoma County reminded them of home, and in 1881 they moved their winemaking operations to the town of Healdsburg in northern Sonoma County. When the two brothers died, the winery was taken over by a grandaughter of one of them, and she ran it until she was 84 years old, when she sold it.

Alexander Valley

They have since the beginning grown grapes in the Alexander Valley because they knew that it would be a wonderful area for growing Bordeaux varietals. Today, their wine showcases the region with their Cabernet Sauvignon and Merlot as well as thier vineyard designated Landslide Cabernet Sauvignon.  The warm weather of the Alexander Valley is perfect for growing Bordeaux varietals, and is a source of Simis Cabernet Sauvignon.

The vineyardsof  Alexander Valley cover about 600 acres and have some of the most diverse soils in the area.

The Alexander Valley region is a prime location for growing wine grapes, because of its diversity of soils and the microclimates that are present here. Each vineyard and different micro-climate will add a variety of different flavors to the wine.

Russian River Valley

In 1989 they purchased a Russian River Valley GoldFields Vineyard and planted it with select cuttings from some of the best and oldest vineyards in California. This helped them to produce their Russian River Reserve Chardonnay, which has become famous in its own right.

The GoldFields Vineyard in the Russian River Valley is 120 acres, and produces mainly the Simi Chardonnay. In the production of their wines,Simi uses not only their own grapes, but also the best of the fruit from the surrounding Sonoma County growing region. The Sonoma County Chardonnay is a blend of grapes grown in the Russian or Valley and Carneros. Simi  sauvignon Blanc is blended from grapes from the Alexander Valley, Dry Creek Valley and Knights Valley.

They also produce a Zinfandel made from grapes from the Dry Creek Valley, which is a world-famous area for producing extraordinary Zinfandel.

There are all kinds of informational books to help you learn to make wine, and the price range can run from the incredibly cheap to the ridiculously expensive. And before you get all of the information you need, you will probably buy more than one. Because when you finish with one, you will want to learn more.

This book has over 160 recipes so you can make your own wine from a variety of sources, not just grapes. Ever heard of Elderberry wine? Sound intriguing? You can learn the simple process of making wine out of fruits you have right in your own backyard, like blackberries. Most people hate having blackberries in their yard, but they sure do make a great cobbler! And a great wine!

What fruits can you use to make your own wine?

• Blackberry
• Peach
• Strawberry
• Plum
• Clover
• Dandelion
• Elderberry
• Potato
• Parsnip
• Sugarbeet

Who knew some of those ingredients could make a tasty wine?  The truth is, lots of things can make a good tasting wine, not just grapes!  And the good thing is, you can use the cheap or even free fruits to learn the winemaking process, because no matter if you are making wine with Grapes or some other type of fruit, the process is the same!

So if you are ready to start your learning process and learn to make your own wine, Click Here! to pick up your copy of Making Great Wine! with over 190 recipes of great tasting wine.

Wine Bottle Labels

Once you figure out how to make your own wine, and you have made a superb batch, you will need a way to store it. Now, if you are a fast drinker, that won't be such a problem! But for most people, drinking five gallons of wine at a sitting is not an option. So you will most likely scope out the wine making equipment stores or online sites and find yourself some bottles and corks. The simplest wine bottle label you can use would be a sticky tag that you hand write the particulars on. But maybe you have some type of personalized wine label design that you are just dieing to put on your wine.

Personalized Wine Labels

If you have your own art that you want to turn into a wine label, you can Design Your Own Labels. If you don't have your own art, but you still want to personalize it, you can use a Pre designed label and add your own wording. The artwork is already done for you, you just customize with your words. It doesn't get any easier than that! You don't have a minimum order either, if you only need a few, only order a few. BUY some for reds and some for whites! Whatever combination you like.

Temecula Wineries

Temecula wine country is located in Southern California. Taking  Temecula wine tours is fun in this beautiful wine region of rolling hills with high mountains reaching as high as 11,500 feet as a backdrop. The vineyards in this area are at 1500 to 2500 feet above sea level, which makes the daytime temperatures cooler than if they were on the valley floor. Daytime temperatures are also moderated by the ocean breezes coming over the coastal range to the west.

Here is great way to take a Temecula wine tour, BOOK YOUR TRIP NOW!

	Wine tasting on a 1914 San Francisco cable car Ride our historic San Francisco cable car to four Temecula wineries & taste several premium wines on a tour of the wine country . Enjoy a picnic lunch at a winery with breathtaking views of the vineyards and local mountains. our tours are on sale $85.0 Starting at US $85 Per Trip >> Click For Details & Pictures
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Normally when people think of Southern California, they think of a dry arid land that would be difficult to grow certain types of grapes in. That is not the case in the Temecula Valley, however. This valley is capable of growing a diverse variety of grapes, including the cool climate varieties of Riesling, Gewurztraminer, and Chardonnay, through the moderate climate varieties such as Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot and Sauvignon Blanc, as well as the warmer climate Mediterranean varieties such as Viognier, Syrah, Grenache, Sangiovese, and Tempranillo. It is very unusual for one area to deal to grow so many varieties of wine grapes.

Most wineries in the area are small, and they are all family owned. It is one of the few wine regions where you may actually run into the owner or winemaker when you visit the tasting rooms. All of the wineries in the area produce exceptional wines, each with their own preference of style. Some will focus on a very limited number of wines they produce and others will offer a wide range of wines. The Temecula area is a friendly wine tasting area, and since all of the wineries are a small family owned operations, it is easy to plan Temecula wine tours

Temecula Wine Tasting

Since Temecula is in southern California, you can count on the weather being fine most of the time.  When you are ready to head out on Temecula wine tasting tours, there are many choices.

• Stay at a wine country cottage in the area or choose other Temecula lodging
• Grab your friends and get in on a limo tour, leave the driving to them. For a bit more excitement, try the Open Air Jeep Tour
• Grab a map and plan your own wine country tour
• Take a Hot Air Balloon ride over wine country
• Book  wine country bike tours for you and some friends
• Hop on a wine tour shuttle bus
• Do a wine country tour on horseback

Before you go you may want to check and see if there are any scheduled Temecula events, as sometimes there could be a special wine tasting weekend, which you may want to attend or avoid, depending on your preference. 

Here is a list of some of the places you may want to visit on your Temecula wine tour.

• Calloway Vineyard and Winery
• Faulkner Winery
• Hart Winery
• Mount Palomar Winery
• Stuart Cellars
• Wiens Family Cellars

There are many more places you will want to go to get a good sampling of Temecula wine, but if you are thinking of doing California wine tours, this is an area you will not want to miss.

Wine Country Tours

Wine country tours are a blast, no matter what mode of transportation you choose.  With wine tour shuttles and limo services, it is nice to leave the driving to someone else.  With wine country bike tours, you can enjoy the slow pace and beautiful scenery.  And by staying at a wine country inn, you can take more than one day to truly enjoy all the Temecula wine country has to offer.

View Image Gallery For Road Bike Tours in California — UDCTOURS

 

No matter the mode of transportation you choose, taking a day to sample all that the Temecula wineries have to offer is a great way to spend the day or the weekend.  With all of the different varietals to sample from, as well as the different techniques employed by the different winemakers, you will be sure to find something you like.  So get a group together and see what kind of fun and exciting Temecula wine tours you can plan!

Not in Southern California, so Temecula wine tours not convenient?

Try a Luxury San Francisco Wine Tour Instead!

This is a self guided tour, which means you and your friends take the trek at your own pace, not the pace set by a tour guide and you won't have to spend the days with strangers.  This is an active adventure that will take you through the San Francisco wine country.

	San Francisco to the Wine Country Trek Enjoy this 10 day luxury vacation with superb food, wine, hiking, and lodging. Experience the best of the San Francisco Bay Area with 6 days of hiking, a day of kayaking and a day of walking between private winery estates for wine tastings. Starting at US $2,450 Per Person >> Click For Details & Pictures
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In its very simplest form, a wine tasting party is nothing more than a couple of friends getting together tasting a bottle of wine they have not tried before. And that kind of party can be one of the most fun of all. However, when people are thinking about a wine tasting party, they are usually thinking of something a little more formal.

Wine Tasting Club

What are the benefits of a wine tasting club?

• Get together with friends on a regular basis
• You don't have to pay for all of the wine yourself
• Rotate locations so you are not the only one hosting a gathering
• Home wine tasting is much cheaper than wine room tasting
• You could hold a wine tasting class
• Learn wine tasting terms in a friendly environment by using a Wine Tasting Guide

Wine Tasting Party Ideas

For a more formal wine tasting party, you may want to start by sending out some wine tasting invitations. Again, there are no standards, you can go from simple blank wine invitations, to something more elaborate that you've picked up at the stationery store, or you can even pick up entire wine tasting kits . Whatever you do, don't forget the wine bottle opener!

Some tips to make your wine tasting party great!

• Get to know your local wine shop, so they can help you choose some great wines that will fit your taste and budget
• Use a Theme.  You could go with a certain region,such as Napa Valley, or a certain varietal, such as Cabernet Sauvignon.
• Use appropriate stemware.  Use wine glasses with large bowls for red wine, and a more contained slimmer glass for white white wine.  And use a flute for champagne.  And remember to protect your wine glasses.
• Serve each wine at the proper temperature.  Red wine should be served at room temperature and it should be decanted about an hour before drinking.  White wine should be served chilled, but not too chilled.  Take it out of the fridge about 1/2 hour before serving.  And champagne should be served ice cold!
• Finally, to make sure your guests do not wake up the following morning with a wine headache, make sure you have plenty of water on hand to keep them hydrated.

Wine Tasting holidays

The major wine tasting Holidays are:

• Memorial Day Weekend
• Thanksgiving Day Weekend

Other holidays are good for a wine party too, but those are the two major ones.  Memorial Day weekend is the starting wine tasting holiday and Thanksgiving is the ending wine tasting holiday.  The Memorial Day weekend is typically when the new release of a vintage will be released.  For example, in 2010, the 2008 vintage of Cabernet Sauvignon wine was released after two years of aging.  The thanksgiving weekend is the last big wine tasting holiday of the year because wineries are going into the slow winter months.

Wine Tasting Weekends

Wine tasting weekends happen all summer long.  The major dates are the holidays already mentioned, but any weekend during the summer wine tasting season is a good weekend to take a wine tour.  Some wine tasting ideas are:

• Stay at a wine country inn or take a vineyard vacation
• Put together a wine tasting dinner at a favorite restaurant
• Get together with friends and share a wine appreciation course
• Host a wine tasting event in your home
• Take a Temecula wine tour or a Napa Valley wine tour
• Take a road trip and visit a wine region you are not familiar with, many have published wine maps to help you route your trip

Wine Tasting Glasses

There are all types of glasses for drinking wine from.  Generally speaking, when you take a wine tasting tour, you will not be drinking from Riedal wine glassses unless you take your own.  Drinking from the proper type of wine glass will help enhance your experience.  If you are taking a wine tasting tour, wine glasses are provided, but if you are putting together your own wine tasting at home, you might want to invest in some of the following:

• A Riedal wine glass; Riedel wine glasses are the premium wine glass to drink from, they have been engineered to place the wine at the proper place on your palate to bring out the flavors of the wine.
• Waterford Crystal wine glasses ; another luxurious experience for some upper crust wine tasting
• Crystal wine glasses, they do not have to be Waterford
• Acrylic wine glasses; too thick for my taste, but some people prefer them
• Personalized wine glasses; great idea for a wine club gathering
• Stemless wine glasses, some people prefer not stems, they are less delicate and more dishwasher friendly
• All Purpose Cheap wine glasses if you are hosting a wine tasting that may become a little rowdy
• Plastic wine glasses if you hosting a wine party that may become a lot rowdy, a plastic wine glass won't break
• Plastic Champagne flutes or plastic Champagne glasses , great for a New Years Eve Party, but go for the real thing if you are drinking an expensive Champagne.
• Wine Glass Charms , so people can keep their glasses straight

Wine Tasting Tips: How to Host A Wine Tasting Party!

One thing you'll want to do when thinking about hosting a wine tasting party, is to decide, will it be something informal with just some simple wine tasting food like cheese and crackers, or will you go all out and have a wine tasting dinner? If you love to cook, the dinner may be the way to go, and you can really have some fun pairing up your wine with your food.

If you go this route you want to make sure that you start your dinner off with something light, and pair with a white wine. As your dinner progresses, your foods get heavier, as does your wine. You could end your wine tasting dinner with a scrumptious dessert, and a sweet dessert wine. This is a great way to spend a fun filled evening with an intimate group of friends, drinking wine the way it was meant to be drank, with food.

A lot of people if they are doing wine tasting at home will not want to go to the expense and work of having a wine tasting dinner. They want to go with something a lot more informal, and just having a few friends over and tastings of wines. If you would like to host a wine tasting like this, you don't really need a lot of preparation. All you would really need to do is set yourself up a wine tasting table, grab a few bottles of wine, and throw out some crackers and cheese to help clear the palate between the tastings.

A lot of times people think that in order to have a home wine tasting, you need to go to your local college and take some wine tasting classes before you post a wine tasting party. That is so far from the truth that it is laughable.

Wine tasting accessories

There are all kinds of accessories that you can use for your wine tasting party. Although they are not necessary, they sometimes add to the learning experience of the party, or sometimes they're just plain fun. There is wine tasting software on the market, as well as other accessories such as a wine tasting journal, a Wine Tasting Notebook , or a wine tasting sheet, which are basically all the same things. They're just some kind of stationery that you can use to jot down your wine tasting notes.

You could set out some wine tasting cards for people to jot their notes on, and if you wanted to be helpful and provide a learning experience, you could get the cards that have Wine Tasting Terms printed on them. Wine tasting terms would be terms such as dry wine, fruity, excellent bouquet, nose, and finish. There is really no need for this, it's not as if you are going to be writing a wine review for your local newspaper, but again, it can add to the fun.  And above all else, a wine tasting party should be fun

If you're going to host a party, there is a wine tasting game that you could play. It is pretty simple to set up, you simply take your bottles of wine and put them in a brown paper bag. Secure the bag around the neck with a rubber band or a piece of ribbon, and let everyone do their tasting without looking at the label on the bottle. What this does is take away people's preconceived notions that they have by looking at the wine label.

Then when everyone has tasted, you could all compare your wine tasting cards, and compare notes. This is kind of a fun wine tasting game to play when you are part of a wine club, where members meet on a regular basis to try out different wines. The person who is hosting the wine tasting party is sometimes responsible for obtaining a bottle of wine as a gift for the person who brings the wine that ends up with the most votes at the end of the evening.

What I really like about this wine tasting game is first of all, doing away with the preconceived notions of the wine label, but secondly, finding out what other people write in their notes. It is never the same thing that I write in mine. Where I may taste black cherries, another person's palate may pick up the oak flavoring. And of course, if there is any wine in the bottle left at the end of comparing notes it's always a great idea to go back and re-taste the wine after comparing everyone's notes.

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Wine Tasting Parties

There are all kinds of ways to have wine tasting parties, you can host a wine tasting party in your home, put together a wine tasting club, or join the throngs of other wine tasters on wine tasting weekends or holidays at a popular winery.  Read more……..

Downloadable Wine Tasting Guide

Here is a link to a download for a Wine Tasting Guide that you can have instant access to and print out the invitations and scoring cards on your own printer. You will always have this on your computer, so whenever you are having another wine tasting party, just print out new invitations and cards, nothing could be easier!

Click Here!

Opus One

Opus one winery is a partnership between Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe De Rothschild. The first vintage made from this partnership was 1979 and was made jointly with Mouton Rothschilds wine maker Lucienne Sionneau and Timothy Mondavi at the Mondavi winery. In 1981, a single case of the joint venture wine sold for $24,000 at the first Napa Valley wine auction, the highest price ever paid for California wine.

In 1983, a 50 acre parcel was purchased for the joint venture winery, this parcel is located in Oakville  Robert Mondavi and Baron Philippe De Rothschild agreed to choose a name of Latin origin for their joint venture, so that the name of the winery could be easily recognized in both English and French. Baron Philippe did quite a bit of research before he came up with the name Opus, which is a musical analogy denoting the first masterwork of the composer. And so Opus One was born.  It was more years before the Opus One winery was built and opened for business and unfortunately, Baron Philippe did not live long enough to see through the construction of the Opus One winery. Baroness Philippine de Rothschild took over for her father in the family wine business.

In 1980,the 1979 and 1980 vintages were simultaneously released as Opus One's first wine release. With this release, Opus one became known as America's first ultra premium wine, the first wine to be sold in the category of $50 per bottle.  Prior to this, only European wines commanded prices that high for a bottle of wine.  Current prices for a bottle of opus one wine ranges from $80 end up.
 

Opus One Winery

Opus one winery is open for tours and tastings all year long. They are closed on major holidays, but other days are open between 10 and 4:30 PM. You should always call ahead to make sure that they will be open. They do daily tours at a cost of $40 per person, by appointment only. The tour will last approximately an hour and at the end includes a complimentary tasting of the current vintage of Opus One wines. If you're not interested in a tour of the winery, you can purchase a tasting of the current vintage of opus one at $30 per taste.

At Opus One they believe that great winemaking begins in the vineyard. They use a blend of traditional and modern approaches when it comes to vineyard management, using whichever technique they believe will produce the best wines.  At harvest time, the grapes are hand sorted, debris and imperfect grapes are thrown out. Once the grapes get to the destemmer, they are gravity moved to the fermenting tanks, creating a gentler process in the winemaking.

Fermenting tanks at Opus One are made from stainless steel, which is the perfect material for making wine because stainless steel can easily be cleaned and sterilized.  It is also easier to apply temperature control techniques to stainless steel tanks.  At Opus One they only make one wine and so each stainless steel tank can be dedicated to a single lot of grapes, and each tank is only used once during harvest. In this way fermentation and maceration are never rushed, and the Long maceration in temperature controlled tanks is able to draw out the rich flavors and colors from the skins and pulp.    The tanks are raised, so the wine can free flow into the new French oak barrels that are used, continuing the theory of gentle winemaking.

Once the free run wine has run off, the remaining skins and pulp go into a wooden basket presses. From there, the skins, seeds and pulp are gently pressed, and that is also put into barrels to be aged. This pressed wine is used to blend with the free run wine to make the final blend.

Fining is a process that most people do not know about in winemaking.  It is the process of using egg whites to remove the very small particles from the wine. This process is done about halfway through the barrel aging, to clarify and polish the wine.  Also during the barrel aging, is the topping and racking processes. During the first year of barrel aging, the winemaker is continually evaluating each barrel. The wine will age in a French oak barrel from 17 to 20 months before being bottled.

Although Opus One wines is considered the best from the Napa Valley in California, it is not the only producer of fine red wines.  Several other wineries, both from the Napa Valley and from other parts of the state, produce some premium wines.  You would be doing yourself a disservice if you concentrated on only one wine.

Mail Order Wine

Wine Club Memberships are a great way to experience new wines.  If you do not have the time to go from winery to winery to find the best, let someone else take on that task for you and make recommendations.

Here is a selection of red wines from the California Wine Club – Premier Club Gift

The California Wine Club 3-Month International Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 186.00 For the wine adventurer with international spirit, our 3-Month International Selections Membership is the ideal gift! Every other month for six months, members receive two bottles of our hand-selected, limited production red wines from around the world. E	The California Wine Club 6-Month International Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 348.00 For the wine adventurer with international spirit, our 6-Month International Selections Membership is the ideal gift! Every other month for twelve months, members receive two bottles of our hand-selected, limited production red wines from around the world
The California Wine Club 3-Month Premier Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 99.99 A memorable gift for friends and family! Each month members receive two bottles of award-winning red wine hand-selected from California's best artisan winemakers. Our 3-month membership introduces members to 3 different wineries and 6 different, limited	The California Wine Club 6-Month Premier Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 198.00 Whether for yourself, friends or clients, a 6-Month California Wine Club membership is a real California Wine Adventure!. Each month members receive two bottles of award-winning red wine hand-selected from California's best artisan winemakers. Our 6-Mont
The California Wine Club 9-Month Premier Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 291.96 A great treat for yourself or a generous gift for clients and friends. Each month members receive two bottles of award-winning red wine hand-selected from California's best artisan winemakers. Our 9-month membership introduces members to 9 different winer	The California Wine Club 12-Month Premier Red Wine Gift Membership Price: 385.00 Reward yourself or someone special with a gift of incredible wine that lasts the whole year! Each month members receive two bottles of award-winning red wine hand-selected from California's best boutique wineries. Our 12-month membership introduces member
Pellegrini Family Vineyards 2005 Milestone "Sonoma County" Red Wine Price: 39.00 Milestone was conceived by selecting special lots of Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Verdot, Malbec, and Cabernet Franc to form a mosaic that would be defined by its depth of color, richness, complexity, and supple texture. The Milestone wine commemora	Bargetto Family Estates 2002 LA VITA Red Table Wine "Santa Cruz Mountains, Regan Vineyards" Price: 47.00 Ruby red, this LA VITA wine has a rich bouquet of ripe plum, exotic spice and cedar. On the palate, fruit flavors are lush and the feel is velvety. There is just a kiss of oak on the finish.

Cabernet wines can be heavy and hardy or they can be mellow and mild, but always it will have a deep red color and the primary taste that you will find in Cabernet Sauvignon is black currant. Most often a Cab is aged in oak, which will add an oakey mellow flavor to the wine as it ages.  Since Cabernet Sauvignon is a heavier wine, it will go well with dishes made of beef, and lamb, especially when those foods are cooked with herbs. It is also a great match for brie, cheddar cheese, and chocolate.

What a lot of people do not know is that Cabernet Sauvignon is actually a cross of two parent grapes, Cabernet Franc and Sauvignon Blanc. This happened so long ago that nobody really knows how it happened, but genetic testing has proven that it is so. Cabernet Sauvignon is considered the king of red grapes, partly because it can be blended so well with other wines, as well as being a great vairetal wine. Another reason it is so popular is because it is easy to grow in a variety of conditions and the grapes have thick skins and the vines are hearty and resistant to rot and frost.  Some of the typical descriptors given to the taste of Cabernet Sauvignon wines are Cassis, Cedar, currant, tobacco, and earth.

Some of the wine regions from California are Napa Valley, Sonoma County, Santa Maria Valley, Central Coast, Rutherford, and Paso Robles.  Cabernet grapes can be grown in so many different localities, because it is so adaptable to different soils and climates.  Although Cabernet Sauvignon grows well in various locations, the soil and the length of the growing season can have an impact on the type of wine that is produced. Cabernet Sauvignon grapes are typically one of the last grapes to bud, usually one to two weeks after Merlot and Cabernet Franc. In many regions in California there is an abundance of sunshine, which allows the grapes to ripen fully before harvesting. In other regions were Cabernet Sauvignon is grown, due to threats of incremental weather the grapes must be harvested sooner, and the wine produced here will not have the fruitiness of wines with longer growing seasons.

Cabernet Sauvignon can be used to make a varietal wine or it can be used as a blending wine. The typical blending of France is to blend Cabernet Sauvignon with Merlot and Cabernet Franc to produce Bordeaux, or Meritage, as it is called in the US.  But that is not the only blending that Cabernet Sauvignon is used for, it can also be blended with a variety of grapes such as shiraz, tempranillo, and sangiovese. In addition to the types of blend, the final product will be decided by other factors such as maceration period, if it is aged in oak, and how long it is aged. All of these factors will have an impact on the final product of the Cabernet Sauvignon wine . As with every other wine that is made, Cabernet Sauvignon will vary from winery to winery. Each vineyard will supply its own taste to the fruit. Different soils will pick up different flavors, and the warmth of the sun or the lack of it will have an effect on the fruitiness of the wine. Aging in oak barrels will add the flavors of vanilla and spice to the wine which is a compliment for the natural grape flavors of black currant and tobacco. The most popular choice for aging wine is French oak barrels, however oak barrels from other regions can also have an impact on the final flavor of the wine. Likewise, using a new barrel, as opposed to a used barrel, will impart a different flavor to the wine.

With all of the variations possible, it is no wonder that there are so many wine enthusiasts all over the world.  It is fascinating to see how the finished Cabernet Sauvignon wine will pick up the not only the flavors of the vineyard where the grapes were grown, but also the preferences for blending and aging that each individual winemaker will impart to every batch of wine he or she produces.

Typically, since Cabernet Sauvigon is a red wine, you will want to drink this wine out of a glass that has a large bowl to it.  The reason behind this type of glass is two fold.  First, so that the wine has a larger surface area for air to touch, that helps to release the bouquet of the wine.  Also, with a larger bowl it is easier to swirl the wine so that it does not slosh over the rim.  Swirling the wine is another technique to bring the wine into contact with the air to help release the aromas.

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Personalized Wine Glasses Price: 12.95 Our personalized wine glasses are engraved with two lines of text. The first letter of each line is bolded and larger as shown.	Keep Off! My Wine Glass Price: 18.95 Your name! Your wine! Keep Off my 20 oz wine glass! No worries, your name is on it, so no one will take your wine!

You may wonder why I think it is important to release the aromas of the wine by contact with the air.  The main reason is that by inhaling the aromas of the wine you will taste the wine better.  It's true.  Our taste buds actually on taste four things, sweet, salty, sour, and bitter.  When we add our olfactory (nose) senses, we add the nuances of flavor that we could not get without the aroma.  That is the main reason that you will see wine enthusiasts sticking their nose into their glass of wine.

Caymus Vineyards was founded in 1972 on the family's property in the Rutherford area. Their first special selection from the 1975 vintage was an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon that was given lots of extended barrel aging. Caymus Vineyards have made Cabernet Sauvignon every year since its founding, and the production has remained at the same level since 1989 

Caymus Vineyards was founded in 1972 on the family's property in the Rutherford area. Their first special selection from the 1975 vintage was an outstanding Cabernet Sauvignon that was given lots of extended barrel aging. Caymus Vineyards have made Cabernet Sauvignon every year since its founding, and the production has remained at the same level since 1989.

The town of Rutherford, where Caymus Vineyards is located, used to be part of the Mexican land-grant known as Rancho Caymus, which was given to George Yount in 1836. There were also a group of Indians called came us, whose village was north of the town of Yountville.

Caymus Vineyards has over 60 acres of estate Cabernet Sauvignon in the Napa Valley's Rutherford district, and it continues to be the foundation of Cabernet. The Wagner's, the owners of Caymus Vineyards, also farm several other Vineyards in the Napa Valley with the Vineyards, ranging in location from the valley floor to the mountain slopes. Caymus also purchases grapes from other Napa Valley growers.

In addition to the Special Selection Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon, the Caymus wineries alsoproduces Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon, Napa Valley Zinfandel and Napa Valley. The winemaker/owner, Chuck Wagner, is in charge of all the viticulture and winemaking at Caymus. Wine tastings are by appointment only, and they can only accommodate 10 guests at a time.

The Cabernet vineyards that supply grapes for Caymus come from old vines that were originally planted in 1960.  In 1975 Caymus introduced their Special Selection, a Cabernet Sauvignon that is made from the best of the fruit from the vineyards and in addition is given  aging in the barrel.  In 1989 the 1984   Caymus  Special Selection  Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon was named wine of the year by wine spectator magazine, and again in 1994 for their 1990 vintage. This made Caymus Special Selection Cabernet the only wine to be selected twice for this honor, and they still hold that distinction today.  The Caymus winery does not produce a Special Selection every year, it is only made in vintages that Chuck Wagner feels will make the grade.

In 1997 Caymus is named the best winery for Cabernet Sauvignon or Cabernet blend in California by wine spectator's readers choice awards. Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon also has earned a spot in wine spectator's top 10 list six times in nine years. In 2001 Charlie and Chuck Wagner are named by wine spectator to its Hall of Fame.

The Rutherford area of the Napa Valley has long been known for producing high-quality Cabernet Sauvignon. Like most of the Napa Valley, the area has the right growing conditions necessary to produce a superior crop of Cabernet. 

The goal of winemaking for Caymus winery is to produce a  wine that is delicious when bottled but one that also get better with age. Since Caymus Vineyards has more than one Cabernet  Vineyards to choose its grapes from, Chuck Wagner is able to add complexity and layering of flavors to his wines by choosing fruit sources from several sites. The Vineyards are managed during the growing season by multiple thinnings to help produce concentrated wines with a dark color, fabulous flavor and wonderful texture.  Caymus also does not have to rely solely on its own Vineyards for fruit to produce wines, as they have long-standing relationships with other Napa Valley growers.  The result of being able to blend Cabernets from several vineyards is a blending of flavors that makes Caymus Cabernet Sauvignon a special wine.